I'll check out that thread on PTCrew and see what it says. I haven't been over there for quite a while. this forum much less cliquish.

I can tell you now,since I'm also on PTCrew.....There's alot of those memebers have spent BIG $$$ on their strut bars,and they're pretty dead set on the "I believe my car handles better with it!" syndrome......Yet,none of them have done any 'real world' testing(skid-pad/slalom/lateral-G);All their testing has been 'Butt-Dyno',or psychosomatic in nature.....As long as you take 99% of the posts with a grain of salt,you'll be OK.
I know personally;If I paid upwards of $500-$600 for a strut-bar,I'd tell everyone it improved handling too!

The strongest and easily strong enough to make a differance, strut bar made for our PTs is the WILDFIRE, round, 1" solid bar design. It's not a pipe, it's a solid 1" bar. You could turn it on end, sit on the end of this bar and instead of it bending, you would just end up with a hernia. They made two differant end (connecting) configurations. WILDFIRE also made at least one completely differant bar that was more for bling and not nearly as strong as the 1" solid bar type.

-----CREWZIN has one of the end styles on his Wildfire.
[IMG][/IMG]

-----CREWZIN
[IMG][/IMG]

-----CREWZIN
[IMG][/IMG]

-----CDD over at the CREW has the same WILDFIRE end configuration that I have.
[IMG][/IMG]

I bought one many years ago and had it on for awhile, but then decided to repaint and strengthen the end connector plate while I had it off. The bar itself is so strong that it will eventually start to warp the end connector plate. You really have to drive hard to get "THE BENDS" and I did.
I took it off a couple years ago, to strengthen the end plates and promptly moved on to more interesting mods. I'll get back to it in another month or so and post pics. Here are a couple pics of it when I first received it. It was obviously a used bar, but in good shape.

-----Mine with the second end configuration
[IMG][/IMG]

-----Mine
[IMG][/IMG]

-----Mine
[IMG][/IMG]

Below is a pic of the BTG polished strut bar with a nice polished intake. The BTG is a nice bling bar, but not nearly as strong as the WILDFIRE.

-----BTG bar and polished intake
[IMG][/IMG]

Again the WILDFIRE is the real deal and strong enough to make a noticable differance in you handling. I had thought back then and am still thinking today about fabricating a third attachment point onto the firewall, but its all just thinking for right now.

I saw this one on the crew a few days ago and mentioned it looked good. I also talked to Crewzin and he did say if it made a difference because he does not drive his PT hard. He did mention that it weighed about 7-10 lbs.

This is a good SB simple and strong. They did not do as well on the mounting flange but hey...for a retail bar its pretty good.
To bad they do not offer it anymore.

That's the trouble with some of us coming onto the PT Cruiser so late in the game, many of the aftermarket parts and companies have either discontinued parts or gone out of business.

__________________Of Course I Talk To Myself Sometimes I Need Expert AdviceASE MASTER TECHNICIAN Hot rodders are a strange lot. They’ll spend thousands of dollars on performance parts to improve acceleration, handling or braking, but most won’t spend one dime on testing to discover if all those parts really made a difference!Remember this: All modifications build on each other SO the better you configure your mods to work with each other, the more powerful your car will be.

I saw this one on the crew and mentioned it looked good. I also talked to Crewzin and he did say if it made a difference because he does not drive his PT hard. He did mention that it weighed about 7-10 lbs.

This is a good SB simple and strong. They did not do as well on the mounting flange but hey...for a retail bar its pretty.
To bad thy do not offer it anymore.

That's the trouble with some of us coming onto the PT Cruiser so late in the game, many of the aftermarket parts and companies have either discontinued parts or gone out of business.

Yep,

Only the twin strut bars really do the job. And of course, those are now all gone too.

------If I remember correctly they were around $100.00 when new. I bought mine used for $40.00.------

Quote:

Originally Posted by NitroPT

I saw this one on the crew a few days ago and mentioned it looked good. I also talked to Crewzin and he did say if it made a difference because he does not drive his PT hard. He did mention that it weighed about 7-10 lbs.

This is a good SB simple and strong. They did not do as well on the mounting flange but hey...for a retail bar its pretty good.
To bad they do not offer it anymore.

That's the trouble with some of us coming onto the PT Cruiser so late in the game, many of the aftermarket parts and companies have either discontinued parts or gone out of business.

-----Yep, these haven't been made for a LONG,LONG time.
Is someone going to tool up and market some real bars?

Only the twin strut bars really do the job. And of course, those are now all gone too.

your going to make me post more aren't you??

Ok so here is another thing to think about....the SB pictured that I said was good we know to be a solid bar. Well that was one way to make a SB for less money then using a hollow tube of quality material like 4130CM. Had they used a tube made from of 4130 chrome moly it would have been lighter and stronger then the very heavy solid bar. Most of the strength of a tube comes from the outer portions. I think the contribution goes like the cube of the radial position. So, if you took a solid rod and drilled out half the volume from the center, you do not lose half the strength. Strength to weight ratio is better for a hollow pipe than a solid rod.
About the only thing the solid bar is better then a tube is the fact that it will act like a spring when forces are presented against it as in the design of the Wildfire bar. This means a solid bar is easier to deform than the hollow tube (of the same mass), but a tube will tend to break or deform easier to break then a solid bar. But that is not condition that happens with structural re-reinforcing on cars or roll bars,cages and frames would be constructed of solid material instead of tubing.

__________________Of Course I Talk To Myself Sometimes I Need Expert AdviceASE MASTER TECHNICIAN Hot rodders are a strange lot. They’ll spend thousands of dollars on performance parts to improve acceleration, handling or braking, but most won’t spend one dime on testing to discover if all those parts really made a difference!Remember this: All modifications build on each other SO the better you configure your mods to work with each other, the more powerful your car will be.